Anyone use a 250k pot on a humbucker to...

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killertone

killertone

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...tame the brightness of a guitar? I just did it and I am not sure I hear much of a difference. I do think that the output isn't the same though. Sounds like it isn't as much as before but I could be inventing that in my head. Thoughts?
 
Yeah i did that a few times on different guitars, and it is a minimal difference IMO.

It does drop the output of the pickup, so your ears aren't tricking you there :)
 
Ive never noticed a 250k pot getting rid of brightness but Ive definitely noticed using a 250k dropping the low end and it most definitely drops the o/p which IMHO makes the pickup feel weaker. With that said, I actually prefer new duncan JB's with a 250k pot over the normal 500k.
 
It's not much of a difference to be honest, it's more tonal than anything. Just enough to drop the mids a little lower.
 
I've tried passive pups wired direct to the output jack before and there's definitely more output that way. But its pretty out of control and too much highs.

Depending on the type and taper of the pot, with a lower value pot you may experience a reduction in treble when dialed low (1 - 3) or only at the higher end (8 - 10) of the volume knob. In other words, I've found some pots to give a little more treble opened all the way up, and others merely sound the same full up but get less muddy (roll off less treble) when dialed in low.

BTW I did some pup swapping today and tried a friend's Anderson HN3. Extremely tight and in your face but there's quite a pronounced wah honk tone to it. I don't like that aspect. Like most Anderson pups, there is a distinct lack of fuzz/grit/grain that most Duncans seem to have. Its very clear but a bit sterile and hifi sounding, so a hint of EMG as well. Just thought you wanted to know :yes:
 
Agreed with the posts above (except the negatives about Anderson pickups!). Tom Anderson's with Switcharoo let's you switch back and forth, at least for the bridge humbucker, and I've noticed what you've noticed.
 
Tried a Pearly Gates in my LP with a 500. Way too bright. Yanked it out and put it in a customers EVH Frankstrat copy someone built. Put a 250 on it in that one and it actually sounded pretty good. Just enough highs.
 
Gainfreak":1iossdfv said:
Ive never noticed a 250k pot getting rid of brightness but Ive definitely noticed using a 250k dropping the low end and it most definitely drops the o/p which IMHO makes the pickup feel weaker. With that said, I actually prefer new duncan JB's with a 250k pot over the normal 500k.
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+1 to all of this
I have 250k pots in all of my single coil guitars and all of them with newer JBs. Everything else is 500k.
 
I just went the other direction recently. My Cyclone has a single coil neck and humbucker bridge with a single volume and tone. It came with a 250k. I put in a 500k pot to try to keep the humbucker brighter when rolling back the volume. Didn't really have much of an affect on that. The single coil became noticeably brighter though.
 
I have 500k pots in all my Pauls but one of them just felt to bright, I think the guitar is inherently bright so I switched out the pup and put a SD Custom and it was still to bright, on the SD site they say their humbuckers are designed for 250-300k pots. I switched out the pots to 250 CTS's with .047 res, and it was just what the doctor ordered, it took all the upper mid cack out of the sound and lowered the overall voicing. Way better imo. I've been tracking the guitar non-stop and it sounds awesome.
 
Thanks for the responses, fellas. I pretty much came to the same conclusions you all posted so I already swapped out the 250k back to the BKP custom 550k.


thegame":2qkmmub8 said:
BTW I did some pup swapping today and tried a friend's Anderson HN3. Extremely tight and in your face but there's quite a pronounced wah honk tone to it. I don't like that aspect. Like most Anderson pups, there is a distinct lack of fuzz/grit/grain that most Duncans seem to have. Its very clear but a bit sterile and hifi sounding, so a hint of EMG as well. Just thought you wanted to know :yes:
Click to expand...

Interesting. Thanks for the info. My Drop Top 7 will have a H3 in it, hopefully the low B will be tight with that pickup.
 
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